Skip to main content

Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Hobby hoard

Work together to make a hobbies hoard board to showcase everyone’s hobbies. What will you add?
Plan a session with this activity

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • A4 paper
  • Camera or phone
  • String
  • Sticky tack
  • Permanent markers
  • Drawing pins
  • Board
  • Backing paper or fabric
  • Printer
  • Examples of small items or images for different hobbies (for example, photos, recipe cards, packaging, leaflets, leaves).
Hobby parent and carer letters
PDF – 61.9KB
Download Hobby parent and carer letters

Before you begin

  • Prepare the hobbies hoard board – cover the display board with fabric or backing paper, and add a heading saying ‘Our hobbies hoard’.
  • Collect some example objects to do with popular hobbies. These are useful to show everyone what kinds of things they should bring. If any of the people leading the activity have hobbies they follow (or would like to follow), they could collect related things to show everyone, then add to the board with everyone else.

Introduce hobbies

  1. Everyone should sit in a circle. The person leading the activity should explain that a hobby is an activity someone does in their own time because they enjoy it and want to do it. They’re usually done on a regular basis, sometimes for years.
  2. The person leading the activity should show everyone some of the example objects, and people should guess what hobbies they represent. Does anyone do any of these hobbies?
  3. Everyone should try to think of a few different hobbies. Their ideas could include sports, crafts, finding out about interesting topics, or activities such as reading, cooking, bird watching, or coding. Remember that hobbies don’t always have to cost money.
  4. Everyone should think about a hobby they’d like to start (or continue doing) over the next six weeks. They should think about what they’d like to achieve, too. Maybe people would like to get better at a certain skill, learn something new, or just have fun and be happy.
  5. Everyone should take it in turns to share what they’d like to do for their hobby. It’s OK if more than one person has the same hobby, and it’s also OK if people haven’t decided between a few ideas yet.
  1. The person leading the activity should show everyone the blank hobbies hoard board. They should explain that everyone will collect small items related to their hobby, and share them with everyone by sticking them on the board.
  1. Everyone should write their name on the hobbies hoard board (or write their name on a sticky label for the person leading the activity to attach).
  1. The person leading the activity should give everyone a letter to take home, to explain what’s going on to the grown ups.

The next five meetings

  1. Each time everyone meets, people should share their item and attach it to the board. If it’s too big or too valuable (or if they’ll need it soon), people could bring the item then take a photo to attach later.
  1. Once everyone’s attached their item, they should talk about their hobbies. What has everyone done since the last meeting? Has anyone found anything tricky? Does anyone have a new goal?
  1. Once the board is finished, everyone should have at least six objects to show the group. People should take it in turns to explain their items and show them to the group; they can share information about their hobby, what they’ve learned, and why they enjoy it.
  2. Once it’s finished, people can display the board in their meeting place to show off everyone’s hobbies. If anyone needs to, they can take things off to take them home.

Reflection

This activity needed everyone to keep working hard towards a goal. Following a hobby can be hard work, especially if people face challenges or barriers along the way. Did anyone find anything especially tricky? What helped people keep going when things got difficult? Everyone should look at the range of items on the hobbies hoard board. They show how everyone has different skills and hobbies, but they all worked hard and stayed focused. Keeping going for six weeks is a great achievement, so well done.

This activity also needed everyone to keep doing the same activity over a period of time. What happened when people practiced a lot? Did anyone get better, or learn something new? How does it make everyone feel about themselves when they get the hang of something tricky? It can make people feel confident and feel happy or proud – a great way to boost self-esteem. Why might people want to continue with their hobby? Some people may like how it makes them feel happy, or they may want to master their next goal. Everyone should take it in turns to share something about their hobby, for example, something they’ve achieved or why they’re good at it.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Risk assess the items.

People could work in small groups or pairs to help each other if they follow the same hobby or attend the same club.

If anyone doesn’t bring something from home, they could draw or write something to add during the meeting.

If you have a lot of people, you may need to have a few (smaller) hobbies hoard boards.

Some people may need extra support, or reminders to follow their hobby and bring items in.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Hobbies Activity Badge

Lots of hobbies will also count towards another badge, so look at the badges available to see if there are any you can earn while doing your hobby. You could also work towards your Personal Challenge Award by doing your hobby, if you set a challenging goal to achieve.